Michael J. Faris and Stuart A. Selber’s review essay “E-Book Issues in Composition: A Partial Assessment and Perspective for Teachers” will be included in Best Writing from Independent Composition and Rhetoric Journals: 2011. The collection will be published by Parlor Press. Editors Steve Parks, Linda Adler-Kassner, and Brian Bailie hope to have copies available at CCCC in St. Louis.

Congratulations to Michael and Stuart, and thank you to everyone involved in the Best Writing 2011 collection.

Submissions are sought for a professional development book for both new and experienced composition teachers that will focus on the role of service-learning in the composition classroom. The book will be part of the Fountainhead Press X Series for Professional Development. Essays are sought that provide practical ideas for using service-learning pedagogy in the classroom; however, the practical application should build on a pedagogical discussion that frames the teaching/learning activities. In other words, do not only tell how, but also why.

The specific audience includes

• New teaching assistants, adjuncts and instructors teaching composition courses, including technical writing
• Service-learning/Community Literacy personnel
• Writing Program administrators interested in the creation of professional development courses or programs
• Writing Center personnel
• Writing Across the Curriculum personnel

Possible topics include

• Pedagogical pros and cons of using service-learning in the composition classroom
• Collaborative models for working with community partners
• Management of service-learning projects – planning documents, designating roles for community partners/teachers/students, designing legal documents to protect student interests and ownership/use of final products, forming/managing work teams, etc.
• Designing course schedules with flexibility, utilizing regular class meetings versus engagement time with community partners
• Models for working with profit/not-for-profit organizations
• Assessment models/assessment implications/role of community partners in assessment
• Strategies for gaining administrative/community support for projects
• Strategies for gearing service-learning approaches to programmatic needs
• Implications of service-learning related to community literacy
• The role of technology in service-learning and the learning opportunities presented
• Implications for the role of teacher in service-learning
• Strategies for dealing with ethical implications of service-learning engagement/products/expectations/responsibilities
• Discussions of end products developed through service-learning activities
• Discussions of student/teacher/programmatic/community partner attitudes about the reasons for service-learning activities

You are strongly encouraged to provide samples of

• Student writing
• End products
• Forms
• Syllabi
• Assignment descriptions

Submissions written collaboratively with students/administrators/community partners are especially encouraged. Submissions should be around 5,000 words and should follow MLA style. Please refer to http://www.fountainheadpress.com/english/xseries.html for series style guide. Submit essays in digital form (Word/rtf) by October 1, 2008 to susan.garza@tamucc.edu.